Decimated
by OwlheadAthena
Summary: Not a slash. Set right after the events of the whole 'Apprentice' fiasco. Robin has more angst than usual, Slade's laughing in the shadows, and even Batman swings in for the party.


… **I thought writing angst was fun.**

**Horror is much, much better.**

**MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH-**

***cough***

**Um… yeah. Please excuse me. I always get this way around Halloween/in the fall. It's one of my quirks :3 Although I can't stand horror movies…**

**Disclaimer: Nope.**

**Note: Yes, I haven't been updating any of my **_**other**_** stories. Why? BECAUSE I CAN. **

**Well, more like if I write anything, it comes out angst/horror.**

**That doesn't really do well with all my 'happy-go-lucky' stories, am I right?**

**Ah well, here WE GOOOOOOO!**

…

* * *

><p>He had gotten him.<p>

He had broken him.

He had turned Robin into a puppet.

A killing machine.

A robot.

No thoughts.

No feelings.

No pain.

It killed Robin when he thought about how much he enjoyed the last part.

* * *

><p>Robin was no better than <em>him<em>, in retrospect.

He pushed his friends away.

(Slade had no friends.)

Robin's family was miles away, and they didn't speak to each other.

(Slade had no family.)

Just because his friends had gotten him away from, from _him, _that didn't mean the nightmares magically stopped.

That the urge to kill at points stopped.

That even being _touched _made him wince as he remembered all the punches he had to take from _him_.

Robin was changed.

Was he even Robin anymore?

He didn't even know, and his friends wouldn't tell him.

They left him in the dark.

* * *

><p>Alone.<p>

In his mind.

All the time.

Never leaving.

Never breathing.

Never _living_.

* * *

><p>Salvation came in the form of a man dressed as a giant bat, climbing in through Robin's bed room and just <em>holding <em>him while the teenager sobbed his eyes out.

Robin, _Dick_, could feel the anger radiating off of Bruce. But it wasn't directed at him.

Bruce was angry at Slade.

Because that man had hurt his son.

Because that man had broken his son.

Because that man drove his _son _to _this_.

No father should ever have to experience that.

And yet here they were, anyway.

Batman made a vow as he started to pull his cowl on that he would hunt down the man that did _this _to his his son and make him _pay_. A small snuffling sound from his laugh made him look down to see that even in his sleep, Dick was shaking and crying.

Bruce's eyes softened by a fraction.

Slade could wait.

His son needed him.

* * *

><p>A few days later, Alfred showed up, stunning the already shocked Teen Titans.<p>

But the small, little, almost destroyed Batclan just ignored them and huddled together around their youngest member.

Their youngest member, who just became their seemingly oldest.

A sixteen year old turned 100.

It hurt Bruce and Alfred to a degree of pain that nobody but them would understand.

Joker had never managed to do this to Robin.

Gotham had never managed to just _break _Dick like this.

But Slade had.

Slade had managed to do the one thing that dozens of villains had tried, and failed, to accomplish.

Destroy the Boy Wonder.

Snap his wings.

Kill his spirit.

Slade would be forever envied by the rest of the evil population.

* * *

><p>Why him?<p>

Why, out of everyone, did Slade choose Robin to be his apprentice?

Dozens of other young villains would have killed each other for that chance.

So why did Slade choose the one person who never tried to show-off to the great mercenary?

The answer lies in the way Robin had been trained.

Out of _everyone _ in the world in their teenage years, Robin was the best trained.

He'd been drilled as a soldier since the age of 8.

(Slade was an ex-soldier.)

Robin was famous throughout the world and superhero community.

(Slade's name caused fear to ripple in the Underground.)

In Slade's eyes, they were destined to be mentor and apprentice.

In Robin's eyes, they were destined to kill each other.

To hate each other.

To be arch-enemy, Slade being the Joker to his Batman.

* * *

><p>Fate has an odd way of showing who you're going to be when you grow up.<p>

Leaving Robin wishing he had never left Gotham in the first place.

* * *

><p>…<p>

**Yup. There we go. Batman needed to be included in the show, because I love me father/son interaction. I'd also like to see Batman whoop Slade's butt.**

… **Expect a lot from me for this forum.**

**And lol, a lot of slash-y sounding stuff was in this story. I don't write slash but hey, whatever you guys want. Hope you liked my story! :3**

**REVIEW.**

**~OHA**


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